NoA President Not Worried About Bumpy Wii U Launch

by nintendoiso on December 4, 2012

Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime in an interview with Gamasutra has said that while the hour long Wii U system update was regrettable it was necessary to make the online functionality work smoothly. The patch itself won’t be built into systems until early 2013.

“Nintendo developers want to make sure that the very best product is available to consumers,” Fils-Aime said. “That creates a dynamic where our developers are working on elements until the very last point possible. That’s why the system update was required on Day One – and this is quite similar to what’s happened with other consumer electronic products.”

When asked about the less than positive critical reviews, Fils-Aime didn’t seem worried. The Miiverse went down on launch day, which has led many users to fear that it will go down again on Christmas, however Fils-Aime has promised it won’t go down again.

“Reviews of a system or review of a game really come down to the quality and capability of the reviewer,” said Fils-Aime. “There has been a range of comments and commentary. But when I go on Miiverse and see how consumers are reacting to games like ZombiU or … Call of Duty, that tells me we’re doing something very, very positive. Similarly, when I go on other consumer social networks and see other consumer reaction that is positive, I know we’ve done well.”

“Without getting into a lot of technical details, the Miiverse [problem] was not purely driven by capacity,” added Fils-Aime. “That gives us confidence that come Christmas morning, those servers will not be challenged in the same way. Come Christmas morning, the Wii U will be available globally. We know there will be a lot of consumers utilizing their Wii U for the very first time. So we’re working very hard to make sure the initial customer experience is a good one.”

Fils-Aime does admit that the move to online does come with a learning curve. At the Wii U launch Nintendo TVii wasn’t at a point where the company felt it was ready to be available. TVii will be launched at some point during the month of December.

“Every time we launch a new system, there are significant challenges,” he said. “There’s everything from supply to making sure the new offering meet our expectations. In the digital, connected services area, much of what we’re doing is groundbreaking, so we are having to learn as we go to make sure the consumer has the very best experience possible.”